Killer s Instinct: Thieving ways
by Observer123
Summary: Sly and his team are planning a heist again. This time they cast their covetous eye on an old Cooper family artifact which fall into the hands of a criminal calling himself "the Duke". But the job is harder than it seems. To get the precious artifact they will need help of a man called Scratch this time. But with the time it seems that the help is becoming a threat for the team.
1. The new team member

**-Okay, here is the crossover story I have co-written with THEEVILDOER. I recommend to read "Killer´s Instinct" first before starting with this story. Believe me it explains much questions that could arise while reading this. Actually, this is a prequel to "Killer´s Instinct". Anyway, enjoy this story :D-**

He called himself the 'LoneWolf,' at least that's how he called himself in ThiefNet.  
His actual name was Scratch, how they should realize later, even though that sounded like some kind of nickname too.

Bentley had found him by coincidence in ThiefNet. Some over another guy who called himself 'Nefarius' there had suggested him as an ally to the gang. And Bentley thought that this was also a strange nickname. After a little chat, LoneWolf invited them for a private meeting. He really seemed like a strange guy, but the gang needed him for the heist they were planning. He had information about their target and was also an interrogation expert.

Two things the team hadn't had. Now, after a quiet long flight from Paris to New York, Scratch, a mid-sized dog with greyish fur, square glasses and a bald head, sat in front of Bentley, Sly, Murray, Penelope and Jing and just smiled creepily at them.  
He gave them a strange smile... a smile you wouldn't expect from a guy like him.

To say that in one sentence, this smile could melt an ice block. And that was exactly what made this smile so creepy.  
"Uhm..." Bentley started as this guy smiled at them for about five minutes and he slowly started to get uncomfortable. "Hello?"

"Hello." Scratch replied and fell silent again.  
"This guy's creeping the hell outta me, Bentley!" Penelope whispered to Bentley in his ear.  
"Spex guy?" Scratch suddenly asked like someone said a keyword that made him react.  
"Yes, and you are LoneWolf, isn't it?"

"Right." Grinned Scratch. "But you can also call me Scratch"  
"Well, Mr. Scratch..." Bentley started and thought 'What kind of a name is that?!' before he continued. "… my name is Bentley, I'm the Brains of the team, this is Penelope, our RC specialist, this is Jing King, our demolitions expert, this is Murray, the brawn and getaway driver, and this is our master thief, Sly Cooper."

"Ohhh, that's interesting!" Scratch said and stood up from his chair. "The legendary Sly Cooper. Believe it or not, I already have heard from you."  
"The real surprise would be if you hadn't." Sly said confidently.  
"I was also compared with you once." Laughed Scratch

"Now that's a surprise." Sly grinned friendly.  
"Yeah..." Nodded Scratch. "They called me the Sly Cooper of torturing..."  
The gang froze at Scratch's words, then they all shook their heads and Sly grinned forcedly.  
"Um..., could you give us a second?" Sly said with the forced grin frozen on his face while he pushed everyone out of the room.

Scratch watched in bewilderment as Sly was pushing Murray, Bentley, Penelope and Jing out of the room. He didn't quite understand what Sly and his gang were doing but a part of him had kind of expected something like that.  
Once the gang was out of the room, Sly closed the door slowly and his forced smile wore off almost immediately. He had been completely flabbergasted when Scratch had said that he had been labeled as 'the Sly Cooper of torture', and for what he saw in his gang's faces, he wasn't the only one.  
"Okay... I´ll speak it out. What the hell?" Bentley meant while shaking his head.  
"That's exactly what I was going to say, Bentley, didn't you say that he was a perfect match for the team?!" Sly asked accusingly.

"Yeah, concerning his talents, not his psyche!" The turtle defended himself.  
"Geez, I guess we should actually stop looking for help in the ThiefNet." Murray said.  
"Couldn't have said it better." Penelope let out.

"Hey, I found you over ThiefNet." Bentley said to Penelope.  
"But I'm not a psycho!" The Dutch mouse protested. "Not even when I turned my back on you!"  
"Hey you! You know that I can hear you, right?" Scratch shouted from the other room. "The walls in this place are thin."

"Great place for a meeting, Bentley." Sly said sarcastically.  
"That was my idea!" Scratch shouted again  
"Even greater idea, Bentley."  
"Would you all come in now or should we continue discussing through the wall?"

"Whatever..." Sly said while the gang got back inside the room.  
"Okay... now that you and your team discussed everything... in private... can I offer you something? Wine, Whiskey, Scotch, Vodka?"  
"What did you put in them?" Sly said in doubt.

"You are cautious, Mr. Cooper, I like that." Meant Scratch nodding approvingly. "But no, nothing in there yet... should I put something in?"  
"No, thanks."  
"Okay... and the others?"

"We say the same." The rest of the gang said in unison.  
"So I´m the only one, okay." Scratch reached in a brown back nearby and pulled a glass and a bottle of Scotch out of it. "Okay guys, what do you want here?" he asked pouring the alcohol into the glass

"The usual, I'm a thief who steals from criminals, this time I want this." Sly said while he showed Scratch the image of a crown. "It was stolen by my ancestor Sir Galleth Cooper, but it was never taken to the Cooper Vault. That has to change."

"Hm... looks expensive... I think I´ve seen that before..." Scratch scratched his chin pensively.  
"You might, it was a famous crown."  
"No... not that... I didn´t see it in a book or something I saw it live."

"Well, it was taken to many museums around the globe." Bentley said.  
"Also not there... I saw it... wait, I remember. The Duke..."  
"Yes." Confirmed Sly. "He's the actual owner, he stole it from the convoy that brought it back to Paris. But it belongs to my family and I want it back."

"Hm... that comes in handy..." Scratch grinned. "How about do ut des ?"  
"What?"  
"Do ut des, that's latin. You give me something so I give you something. Symbiosis."

"Exactly, that's what we were trying to say. We need your help." Bentley said.  
"And like it is a coincidence, the Duke has something I want too." Scratch giggled evilly.  
"And that something is...?" Penelope asked.

"Just a little black book... but before I continue talking, tell me please, what do you know about me?"  
"Just what you've told us, that your name is Scratch and how you can help us in this heist." Bentley said and thought again: 'Seriously, what kind of a name is that one?!'

"Well, perfect. I like to stay undercover. But what I can say you that I earn my money with... cocaine."  
"You earned what with what?!" The gang asked in unison.  
"Money with cocaine. You know, this white stuff that makes people nuts." Scratch explained. "Just like the Duke."

"How can you do that?! You're not a thief, you're a maniac!" Penelope said.  
"Oh come on... morality, really? You steal!"  
"We steal from criminals only, we have honor!" Sly said.  
"Yeah but from who did these criminals steal before?" Asked Scratch. "From normal people."

"That's why we rip them off their fortunes, because they don't deserve them!" Bentley said.  
"But you don't give the stuff back to their rightful owners. So it's still stealing." Scratch shrugged a bit uncomprehendingly.

"But we make sure the criminals pay for their crimes, we always send them to prison!" Murray said.  
"Nevertheless... stealing... but I don´t think I should debate to long about this topic... I´m not really a role model when it comes to moral. Anyway. Cocaine. My business is quite big... I control almost the complete east coast. And I want this little black book which includes all deals the Duke makes. With that knowledge I can destroy his empire and take his place. So I help you to get this artifact and you help me to get this book, how does that sound?"

"Yeah, well we don't work with drug dealers, au revoir, Scratch." Sly said.  
"As you wish Mr. Cooper." Shrugged the dog nonchalantly. "Good luck getting this thing on your own."  
"What do you mean?"

"The Duke´s HQ isn't just a building... It's a castle. Armed guards with itchy trigger fingers, high-tech security system with spring guns... shall I continue?"  
"Sounds like the Cooper Vault job all over again, only with armed guys instead of mutants." Sly said.

"Well, then it seems that you can handle that yourself..." Scratch said before taking a sip from his glass.  
"What's the catch now? You're hiding something, I can easily tell that."  
"You don't say." Sneered Scratch. "Well, you need a code and a key to crack the safe where the crown is stored... otherwise the content will be destroyed."

'Damn! I knew this couldn't be that simple.' Sly thought.  
"It's never that simple, huh?" Asked Scratch like he just read his mind. "I mean you can crack the safe open when the code is typed in... but you need this code."  
The gang shared worried glances amongst themselves, then they sighed and they nodded.

"So you made a decision as it seems." Scratch noted.  
"I can't even believe I'm about to say this, but fine, you're in this job." Sly said with a sigh.  
"Excellent... excellent." Scratch rubbed his hands. "Okay, then the first thing to do is getting this code I think. The Duke has a right hand... Brandon Barns. He's the only one that knows the code, aside from the Duke."

"So our first task is getting the code from Barns?" Sly asked.  
"Yep, just kidnap him and I do the rest. He will sing like the bird he is."  
"Sounds easy enough, let's get a plan done, Bentley." Penelope said.

"Ah okay, then speak up... Bentley..." Meant Scratch and added: "I really have to learn your names..."  
"Well, from what we've found, the Duke's right hand is a woodpecker and he's kind of paranoid, we could use that to lure him into a trap." Bentley said.

"Good, paranoia is always a good weapon. A paranoid target person is always overly attentive, and if we can mix that with fear, the person will panic." Scratch explained. "How about a fleet of black vans following him through the city?"

"Unnecessarily complicated, I was thinking on using my darts with a sonic disruptor, his paranoia will make him think that something's up, so he'll either run away or go check what the sound was."  
"He won't check what the sound was, that's for sure. Also, this guy has a panic room... Oh!" Scratch started grinning even more than before. "How about waiting for him in his panic room?"

"It probably has a secret passage, maybe Jing can block it with her fireworks."  
"Oh! Fireworks... nice thing." The guy sounded like a child as he said that. "This sounds like a basic plan until now... "

"I'll use my sleep darts to drive the guy insane, then you and Murray could catch him while he runs away from the sounds created by my darts, however if he makes it to his panic room, then Jing will demolish the secret exit, then it'd be a matter of time until he comes out of his hiding." Bentley summarized.  
"Okay... Give me just a few seconds to think all contingencies through." Said Scratch. "By the way, do you have a hideout there in Paris? We can't actually coordinate that heist from here."

"Should we take him to our hideout? I don't trust this guy." Penelope asked.  
"Oh yeah... you know, why don't you just say that to my face." Scratch said rolling his eyes  
"He's creepy as hell!" Penelope said.  
"I think the same." Jing said.

"Hey, I can hear you, goddammit!" Scratch called out. "Stop that or I'll tell you something creepy"  
"What gives, if you betray us, you'll pay." Sly said.  
"Oh, I already heard that sentence..." laughed Scratch. "'You betrayed us, you pay.'... and then I shoved a grenade in his mouth."

"This time, you'll go to jail if you betray us." The raccoon stated toneless.  
Scratch sighed bored. "The jail… You know I was thrown in a latrine in Africa and I kept myself alive by drinking... anyway, prison doesn't scare me. And also it would have no use betraying you, I mean I need your help just as much as you need mine."

"We prefer to be safe than sorry." Murray said.  
"Well, I can't reply anything other than you´re right on that."  
"Let's go." Sly grumbled.

Scratch rummaged in his backpack and got a book out of it.  
"I got my flight reading matter, so let's go."  
The gang and Scratch left the building and hopped inside the Cooper team van.  
"Nice van..." Said Scratch slowly eying the vehicle critically.

"Any bad comments about my baby?" Murray growled.  
"Uhm no... I rather read my book." Scratch quickly opened the little brown book and started reading.  
"Much better." Murray said.

"Yep, Descartes beat van." mumbled the dog.  
"What did you just say?" Sly asked with a smile.  
"I said that Rene Descartes, the philosopher, is more awesome than this van. I'm just reading his book, 'Meditationes de prima philosophia, in qua Dei existentia et animae immortalitas demonstratur'… in latin"  
Murray took that as an insult, so his eye twitched in anger and he turned his head slowly to glare at Scratch.

"What he tries to proof just by thinking the existence of god and the soul. And I think that's kind of awesome."  
Murray made a gesture at Scratch that said that he'd be watching him, then he ignited the motor and sped off to the hideout.

Once they were near the coast, Murray pushed a special button in his van's wheel, then a pair of wings and a turbine erupted from the van, allowing it to fly from the US to France, and Scratch could've swore that Murray had glanced at him as if he said "How did you like that?"  
'Oh yeah, this will be a long, long mission.' Scratch thought and deepened into his book.


	2. Beyond all limits

Everything worked out well.  
Bentley's plan worked almost to perfection. He had startled Barns with some nasty sounds thanks to his sonic disruptors, and the first thing Barns did was running to his panic room. Unfortunately for him he was also running into Murray's arms, who was waiting for him there and was able to knock the woodpecker out.

The rest was easy as pie. They brought the unconscious right hand of the Duke to the hideout where Scratch was waiting. The dog hadn't joined them because he had to, in Scratch's exact words, 'Prepare a room for their guest'.

What he had prepared was an almost empty room that had a chair the middle. Additionally, he had laid down a big plastic tarpaulin under the chair on the brown wooden floor, about which the team was unsure which use it had. Like the big plastic tub and the canister with acid in the corner of the room.

As Scratch saw the woodpecker, he started smiling maniacally and told Murray to put him in the chair. Then Scratch strapped him to it with a rope.  
"Does one of you have some smelling salt?" Scratch asked as he was done tying up Barns. "He has to be awake for this."

Penelope pulled out a small flask from her pocket, she uncapped it and put it near Barns's nose, then he sniffed on it and awoke with a sneeze.  
"Thank you." Scratch meant friendly.  
"You're welcome... I guess..." Penelope said while she put the flask back into her pocket.

"Okay... everyone with a weak stomach better get out now. This could get really ugly!"  
Sly immediately knew what Scratch was about to do, so he pushed Jing, Murray and Bentley out of the room, then Penelope shut the door and locked it.  
And then silence, to the surprise of the both specters. No sound came from Scratch, he just stared at Barns for a while.

Then, all of a sudden, the dog clasped his hands together while the woodpecker was cowering in fear. Penelope and Sly could see clearly that he had wet his pants out of fear.  
"Oh, already?" Said Scratch looking at the woodpecker's pants. "Usually the people do that while I am torturing them."

"What-what do you want from me?!" The woodpecker asked terrified.  
"Oh... just some numbers. A code if you want to call it like that. For a safe."  
"I can tell it to you, even help you!" Stammered Barns. "Just please don't kill me!"  
"Okay... then spit the number for the safe out."

"O-of course! It's 29-76-84... um... 54-33-15... now please, let me go!"  
"Enough, Scratch, untie him and let him go, I'm taking him with Carmelita." Sly said.  
Scratch, without even listening to the raccoon, drew a knife and rammed it into Barns´s right shoulder. Penelope and Sly gasped in surprise and horror while the woodpecker howled in pain.  
"That isn't an answer Mr. Barns" Scratch called through Barns screams

"Those were the numbers! Agh!" Barns said.  
"You are trying to play with me, Mr. Barns. And you are a bad player." Scratch turned the blade in the wound. "These safes have codes with eight numbers. You better tell me the right number now before I think of a more creative way to ask my questions."

"13-77-33-66..." Barns said weakly.  
"That's enough, Scratch!" Sly ordered again.  
"Oh Sly..." Scratch sighed and reached into the bag that stood beside Barns´s chair. "You really believe him, right?" Smiling the dog pulled a wire cutter out of the backpack.  
"I don't, but this is going too far!"

"I just began Sly... just began." Scratch put the wire cutter on the pinky of his victim's right hand and said. "Okay... Mr. Barns. I want to play I game now which I call 'Count to ten'."  
Penelope was at this point on the verge of tears, so, Sly grabbed her and hugged her while the Dutch girl covered her ears.

"One." called Scratch and pressed the handles together.  
Under unnaturally screams, a finger fell down to the floor. The blood spurted out of the finger´s stump and covered the white shirt that Scratch wore with his grey suit, with a big red stain.  
"Okay Mr. Barns, I want the real code now." The dog said as he set the cutter on the ring finger.

"I gave it to you!" Barns claimed.  
"Really? 13-77-33-66? That´s not a code you would use. Too many equal numbers... Two!" Again a finger fell down under loud screams and even more blood spurted.

"12-34-78-98!"  
"I still don´t believe you! Three!"  
At this point, there were almost no signs that Scratch´s shirt had been white once, as it was almost completely covered by Barn's blood.  
"76-55-34-12-89!"

"Nope! Four!"  
"Stop now, Scratch! There are other ways!" Sly snapped while Penelope tried not to run out of the room.  
"The point of no return has been reached already! You see, he's lying again!" Scratch put the cutter on Barns' thumb and yelled. "Five!"

"This is madness, Scratch!" Sly yelled through Barns' screams while Penelope started crying in his shirt. "I thought you were a psycho, but clearly that's too sissy of a word to describe you!"

"88-66-17-25!" Barns yelled desperately.  
"Okay okay..." Sighed Scratch and knelt down. "This was getting boring anyway. Mr. Barns, I know another game called one-armed bandit. Give me the real code and I won't show you how it goes."  
"That was the real.. code..." Barns sniffled.

"Hm... How can I be sure?" Scratch dropped the cutter and pulled a little plier out of the bag.  
"I swear it..."  
"I mean everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie except this..." Scratch put the plier on one of Barns' incisors and pulled it out with one jerk.

Barns howls were now loud enough for the gang outside to listen to them, and when they heard Barns yelling out from his missing tooth, Murray couldn't stand it anymore and ran to puke in the kitchen's sink.

"Okay Barns" Scratch grabbed his chin "Now tell me the truth."  
"Why... do you... do this?..." Barns said between sobs.  
"Interesting question... and very philosophic too. But you forgot one thing. I AM THE ONE WHO ASKS THE QUESTIONS!" Scratch punched Barns' face so hard that a second incisor fell out.

At this point, Penelope couldn't stand it either, so she broke free from Sly's arms, then she unlocked the door and opened it, after that she ran away to her and Bentley's lab while she cried.

"The real code is 56-77-89-00! I swear it!" Shouted Barns suddenly out as Scratch lunged out again. "That is the code! Really! Please, just make it stop! Please!"  
"Finally Mr. Barns… it was about time… And of course nothing would be further from my thoughts than not complying with your wish." Scratch reached into his back again and pulled a gun out of it.  
Calmly he screwed the silencer on it.

Sly saw what Scratch was doing, so he used his cane to snatch the gun from Scratch's hands. "Come on, give it back." Scratch smiled awkwardly friendly towards Sly.  
"That's enough already, you went too far, I'm not giving this back to you." Sly said while he put the gun in his backpack. "Untie him now, we have to take him to the police department as soon as possible."  
"Thank you." Barns said in tears to Sly. "Thank you, thank you!"  
"No problem…" Sly said. "I promise that nothing will happen to you. You'll be fine…"

A swift movement of Scratch was enough to throw a knife right at Barns' heart and stop Sly in midsentence. Barns just shed a tear and looked at Sly with a look that said: 'You promised that I'd be fine.', then his head slumped to a side and his eyes lost all signs of life.

"I still have it." meant Scratch admiring his own throw.  
Sly couldn't help but grunt in impotence and slam Scratch against a wall while he glared at him.

"What's wrong Sly?" Scratch asked like nothing happened  
"Why the hell did you do that for?! He had given us the code, there was no need to kill him! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Sly demanded.

"He saw our faces." The psychopath meant and got loose from Sly's grip. "And besides that, the Duke would've killed him nevertheless."  
"Carmelita could've protected him, he could've lived!" Sly said.

"I don't know who this Carmelita is, but do you really think that people like the Duke or me doesn't have methods to kill people under police protection? Let's just say, it's better for him." Scratch walked without deigning another look at Sly.  
The psychopath dog walked past the raccoon and entered the community room, happily he called out with a wide grin.  
"The code is 56-77-89-00"

Everyone in the room glared at him, while Penelope wiped her tears, and while Jing and Murray cleaned their mouths from the residues of vomit that they had.  
Both women stood up and slapped Scratch as hard as they could.  
Or at least they tried to do so, as Scratch dodged the slap attempts.  
"This is really your first time torturing, isn't it?" He laughed almost amused by so many different shock reactions.

"You are not a maniac, Scratch, you are a monster." Sly said while he pointed his index at Scratch menacingly.  
"What do you want? We have what we need. The code is ours!"  
"We could've obtained it without that sheer demonstration of brutality and savagery." Bentley stated.

"Oh, okay. Then tell me how? In my opinion this was the unica ratio."  
"My truth serum, you unevolved specimen."  
"Oh truth serum!" Scratch replied. "Okay, try it on me, let´s see if it´s good"  
"Never, I rather eat my wheelchair than wasting something of my great new formula on you , let alone the fact that I don't think that anyone here would like to hear whatever sadistic stories you know."

"Oh great, a new powerful formula. I bet you tested it... I mean a real scientist would test the formula. Maybe you tested it on one of your friends here." Scratch turned to the others. "Someone felt like he had to say the truth recently?"

"I tested it on myself, I would never betray my friends like that."  
"Who knows how strong your drive to search is? Maybe you don't betray them now but you'll need test subjects for your formula sooner or later..."  
"I told you, I tested it on me." Repeated Bentley.

"One person isn't enough." Declared Scratch. "The serums I used were tested on thousands and still they kill with a probability of 50 percent. So don't bother me with truth serums." Scratch said and sat on the table.

"Do you really think I didn't know?! I'm the brains here, I know all about serums, and I tested it on myself, it was more than enough, I'm invulnerable to truth serums, yet mine worked just as I expected.

"And that could be just because of luck. And do you think just because you are the brains everyone else can't be right?"  
"You're an idiot!" Cursed Bentley.

"Call me whatever you want, I have a results. You maybe would've just poisoned the guy and killed him before he could have said anything." Scratch meant shrugging triumphantly.  
"Screw you, Scratch!" Bentley said while he rolled to his lab, being followed by Penelope.

"Always a great fun to mess with the geniuses." Laughed Scratch. "They think they are the smartest in the room and automatically underestimate the others"  
Right then, a dart hit Scratch on his neck.

"Oh... violence. That's the genius' way of solving problems." Scratch shouted towards the retreating duo while he pulled the dart out of his flesh.  
"It was to make you shut up, three seconds before neurotoxins kick in." Bentley said while he and Penelope entered into the elevator that lead to their lab.

"Neuro... tox...in?" Scratch babbled.  
Scratch's sight got blurry, but he could still see how the gang smirked almost evilly at him before he lost consciousness.  
"Just... don't rape me..." were his last words before he passed out.  
The gang shivered in disgust at Scratch's words, then Jing, Sly and Murray left to their rooms.

Scratch slept until the next morning began. The early rays of the sun that touched his face woke him rudely up.  
He felt that there was a warm damp under the cheek he was lying on and as he straightened up he realized that he lay in his own drool  
To make matters worse Scratch realized as he opened his eyes that he was lying on the floor.  
"Great..." He mumbled while he wiped the drool from his face

Scratch got up on his weak shivering legs just to sit down on a chair immediately.  
Then he noticed that the Cooper gang was already around, acting nonchalantly, as if he wasn't there.  
"I slowly start to like this chair" Scratch said to the gang also imitating their nothing happened behavior. "I think this'll be my chair."

"Bentley, remind me to burn that chair." Sly said while he sipped on his coffee.  
"You won't claim that chair, nor you will burn it, the entire dining table is mine!" Penelope yelled from the kitchen.

"We'll see about that." Said Scratch as a well-known pungent smell reached his nostrils. "Do you smell that?"  
"Yes, go get rid of you macabre job, now, before the neighbors start complaining from that stench." Sly said while he sipped his coffee again.  
"It seems that I have to do that... You wouldn't believe how penetrant this smell would become. Luckily I have enough acid with me to make the recognizable parts unrecognizable... but I could need some help."

"Do you really think that we would help you?" Bentley said.  
"Well, I can't do that alone." Protested Scratch. "I need some assistance"  
"Good luck with that." Laughed Bentley.  
"Oh come on! Don't be like that. We just cut the corpse in parts and dissolve them in acid."

"Don't you dare to say that as if it was the easiest thing in the world, you perverted psychopath!" Penelope demanded.  
"But it is easy... just see it as advanced training."

"Advanced training?!" Murray said. "What I do in the Hazard Room is advanced training, that's just a sick way of burying someone dead!"  
"Yeah, but nevertheless a valuable ability." Scratch meant pointing his index finger in the air.  
"A valuable ability? The Ninja Spire Landing and the Railwalk are valuable abilities, that's just being sick and twisted." Sly said.

"You are making me tired, Sly, of course holding balance and landing right are important abilities but getting rid of a body is also one." Scratch sighed. "So, any volunteers?"  
"It wouldn't have to if you had let him live." Sly replied while he stood up.  
"If you had given him to the police he would be dead by now... wait... what's the time?" Scratch rolled up his sleeve and glanced at an expensive looking watch. "Nope, sorry. He would be dead in about one hour."

"Nevertheless, he would've lived a bit longer, every second counts." Sly meant.  
"Great last minutes. In a cell. Alone. Is that what you would imagine your last moments?"  
"No, actually I imagine myself dying in the claws of a mechanical monster with no feelings that had lived for hundreds of years thanks to an steady diet of jealousy and hate, who had the express intention of wiping out my entire family line."

"At least... not alone." Joked Scratch as he gave Sly a nudge on the arm. "Now seriously, I need a volunteer."  
The gang glared at Scratch, none of them was going to help him with his grim task, or so they thought.

"I will." Jing said.  
Everyone including Scratch turned surprised towards Jing.  
"You?" The dog probed.  
"Y-yes, me."  
"Hmm... okay. Why not?" Scratch opened the door of the room in which Barns corpse still sat lifelessly on the chair.

"No, I will not allow it!" Murray said.  
"Indeed, she's too young!" Penelope stated.  
"Why?" the dog asked. "How old is she?"  
"She's barely 20 years old, even I'm older!"

Scratch looked perplex at Jing and then back at the group.  
"So? Where is the problem? I worked with younger people."  
"You sick maniac!"  
Scratch who was sick of getting permanently called sick just continued.  
"The youngest was twelve I think... We just got rid of the corpse of his father he had killed. But I´m not sure... he could have been ten too. Who knows?"

"You... You're not a psychopath, again, I still think that you're this close from becoming a monster like Clockwerk was!" Sly said.  
"Think what you want... Jing, shall we?" Scratch asked.  
Jing started walking towards the room, but Murray didn't let her pass.

"No." He said with firm voice.  
"Please, I am the only one that has dealt with something like this twice." Jing said. "I will be fine, you do not have to worry."

"Yeah, let her pass!" Scratch called from behind.  
"You, shut up!" Sly ordered Scratch and then said to Jing. "We can't let you do this, we promised the Panda King that we'd keep you away from danger!"  
"As long as she don't put any limbs into the acid that shouldn´t be dangerous!" Scratch called in again.

However, if Scratch's comment had done anything, it was just angering the gang even more, who replied in unison:  
"SHUT UP!"  
Murray sighed and looked into Jing's eyes, then he said: "Are you sure you can handle this?"  
Hesitatingly, the young panda girl nodded.

Murray sighed again, then, much to the gang's surprise and anger, he let her pass. What else should he do? Jing made a decision and he, as her friend, he didn't want to be in the obstacle in her way.

Jing walked into the room in which Scratch waited. Curiously, Jing's walk was similar to the walk of a criminal on the green mile. Slowly and fearful with folded hands sending a quick prayer up to god. And soon as she had passed the threshold of the room, Scratch slammed the door shut. Now she was trapped with the psychopath.

Outside of the room, Murray sighed and went to check on his van. Everything he could do was wait and pray that Jing's mind could take whatever this psychopath threw at her.

Inside the room, Scratch was about to start what he called 'the magic'.  
"Okay... Jing. Let's get this started."  
Jing stood six feet away from the corpse while she controlled her gag reflex olympically. She wasn't only nauseous because of the stench but also because of the sight.

"Yeah, I know, a bit disgusting... but you'll get used to that. It's quite impressive though that you haven't puked already…"  
Jing couldn't stand it anymore, so she ran to a corner of the room and emptied her stomach's contents there.

"Okay... I maybe was a bit too rash... but never mind. That also happened to me the first time." Scratch walked to Jing and laid his hand on her shoulder. "Do you feel better?"  
"No..." The girl moaned weakly.  
"Well... just take a few deep breaths, then get rid of the rest of what is in your stomach and then come and help me. You just have to pour the acid into the little plastic tubs over there and help me to put the cut off limbs into it."

Just the mention of her duties were enough to make Jing vomit once more. Scratch let her go and walked to the backpack that still stood there. This time he pulled a saw out of it. Knowing what he had to do the dog started his work.

Humming a song, Scratch started sawing on Barns' shoulder blade.  
Jing meanwhile started murmuring a mantra. The girl kept her sight away from Scratch while she strode slowly to corner in which the plastic canister stood. She opened the canister and poured the acid carefully into the plastic tub while she closed her eyes.  
"You´re meditating?" Asked Scratch while he increased the pressure on the saw to get through the bone.

"Everything is alright, this is just like... a bit of training of a new art, learning is good..." Jing murmured and walked to Scratch. She didn't want to see him sawing, so she kept her eyes closed.  
"That's the spirit." Laughed Scratch and ripped off the arm which was just attached to the rest of the body by a bit of skin. Grinning he handed the arm Jing. "Jing... may I call you Jing?"

The young panda just kept murmuring to herself and hesitantly grabbed the arm, which she immediately dropped.  
"Keep calm Jing... keep calm." Scratch said while he picked the arm up.  
"Calm down, you are strong, do not disappoint the gang. You owe them your life, they need you this time..." Jing said while she breathed slowly.

"Jing..." The dog started flicking his fingers in front of the young panda's face. "I need you here with me. Your full concentration."  
"Stay calmed, this is necessary... Grim, disgusting, horrible and unnatural but necessary nonetheless..." Jing said while she opened her eyes and saw the dog flicking his finger close to her face.

"You're back from your... dream world whatever, Jing?" He asked, still flicking his fingers.  
"It is called focusing, I needed my chi to be focused on this grim and horrible task."  
said the panda and slapped Scratch´s flicking hand away from her face. Angry she glanced at him with a small frown. "And I would prefer if you called me Ms. King or King-san, Scratch-san."

"Oh okay, Ms. King." Scratch laughed. "Nice name."  
"Do not dare to laugh at my family name!" She snapped at him.  
"I wouldn't dare." Smirked Scratch and gave her the arm. "Here, you know what to do with it?"

The girl grabbed the arm and tossed it into the plastic tubes as if it was trash.  
"Goddammit girl!" Yelled Scratch. "Don't throw it! The acid is splashing!"  
"Normally I am never rude, but this situation calls for it." Jing let out to herself. "Do I look like I care?"

"Do you want to get something like this?" Scratch rolled up his sleeve and showed her a finger long bulging scar near the elbow on his left arm. "First time I worked with that acid, poured something on me accidentally."

"That is what I call karma."  
"Just saying, be careful with that stuff." Sighing Scratch grabbed his saw again and started working on the other arm.  
"I know what I do…" Grumbled Jing. "Every day I work with dangerous substances to make my fireworks."

"You say one thing and do the other..." Mumbled the bald head guy.  
"I do not, and if you excuse me, I would like you too not speak to me anymore."

"Oh, come on, I hate playing butcher in silence. Let's talk a bit... it won't hurt." Scratch said with false sadness. "Even the kid I once worked with talked with me..."  
"But my mother always told me not to speak with drug dealers."

"Hm... my Mom always said I should be a good dog... but your mom's advice isn´t bad too."  
"My mother was a good woman, she did not deserve what she got. She was loving, she was merciful, she was forgiving, but fate snatched her from me..."

"What happened?" Scratch asked and set his saw on Barns' right leg now.  
"I do not wish to speak of it..."  
"Okay." To Jing's surprise Scratch didn't esquire any further. "If you don't want to talk to you don't have to. I understand... "

"What could you possibly understand?!" Jing said while she threw Barns' left arm to the acid.  
"Much Ms. King, much. I also lost people close to me too." Scratch started to put increase his sawing speed. The bone in the upper leg was not really something what you could easily cut through.  
"I do not believe you, you must have turned your back on them."

"And why you think so?"  
"Because of who you are." Stated Jing.  
Scratch stopped sawing and looked at her. "Who do you think I am?"  
"A psychopath, hideous monster, like the ones which mothers use to scare their children to make them obey." Jing said while she chuckled. "No, you are worse, the only being worse than you is Clockwerk himself."

"Hmm... and you have this picture of me after less than 48 hours." Scratch stood up and left the corpse aside for a moment. "What would you do if I tell you that I'm not the monster you think I am? What if I tell you that some of my deeds, even though they look cruel, very often or at least sometimes, have a good intention behind them?"

"I would laugh." Jing said coldly. "That would be like saying that Clockwerk had another reason other than jealousy and hatred to slain Cooper-sempai's clan."  
"Maybe he had? Who knows? But due to the fact that you don't want to tell a story while working, mind if I tell one?"

"I could use a laugh right now."  
"You remember that I mentioned that I once worked with a person, a kid, younger than you?" Scratch knelt down again and took his saw. "I told you that I helped him to get rid of his father's body after he killed him."  
"So?"

"I met the boy years ago... lying in a little alley beaten half to death. I don't think that I have to mention that he was crying. As I asked him what happened he told me that his father did this to him."  
"So this guy was a..."

"Nothing more than an abusive father." Scratch said baldly. "No criminal, not suspicious, his neighbours said he was a nice guy, paid his taxes, mowed his lawn, the usual thing."  
"How could he?" Jing asked bewildered.  
This was something that Jing couldn't understand in the slightest. After all, even if her father had been a criminal, he always treated her well, he loved her and never hurt her. So how could such a guy do that to his family?

"Interesting question... I think I have to owe you an answer. Maybe it was psychological, maybe he drank, god knows. But the story isn't over yet." Scratch finally was done with the right leg so he started with the last leg now.  
"It is... so disgusting..." Jing said, referring to the man.

"Just started… The boy also had a little sister. She was six years old, her father gave her the same treatment like the boy. But she... how should I say that... she wasn't as tough as her brother."  
Jing gasped, imagining the worse.  
"The coroner in charge believed what her father told him, mainly because her wounds suited the diagnosis. She fell from the stairs. That was the official report." Scratch started sawing faster. "But the unofficial truth was that he hit his daughter so hard that he killed her."

Jing gasped in complete horror, she had met evil men and women, but that was just sick. How could a man be so cruel? Raliegh, Muggshot, Mz Ruby, her own father would never be capable of such a brutality.

"And now there was this boy lying in front of me who begged for my help..."  
"How can a man be so... so sick?! My father was one of the most wanted criminals, but he always protected me and loved me."

"As I said, no idea. But still we are not at the end of the story, because there is also a mother in this story."  
"Please don't.." Jing said. "I-I don't think I can stand it..."

But Jing's plea seemed to have fallen on deaf ears as Scratch just continued, like a VCR with a broken stop button.  
"She had a strange codependence with her husband. No matter how often he beat her or abused her, she couldn't leave him. She didn't even tell the police that her husband killed his daughter because she feared that he had to go to jail and she would lose him. All in all, this man was the king of his own wicked kingdom. Untouchable by the police or other authorities. And here is where his son enters the stage of this theater play."

"Please... stop..." Jing begged while she tried to hold back her tears.  
"His son wanted revenge for his sister... Poor traumatized boy, I mean he had to watch it."  
"Shut up... please!" Cried Jing desperately but Scratch still continued.

"So what did I do? I helped him... I know that helping a child killing his Dad isn't... nice or morally correct but... there was no other way to deal with this man. I borrowed the boy my gun, with silencer of course, and watched how he sneaked up on his father and shot at him until the mag was empty"  
"Please! I beg you, just stop!"

"And then... we did this." Said Scratch. "Just me and him. In a room like this one. I cut the man in parts and he helped me." Scratch laid the bone saw aside. He was done with the last leg and done with the story.

But it had already taken a toll on Jing's mind. The panda was now shaking and trying to get rid of the images that the story had put up in her mind, but it was impossible.  
"Ms. King, calm down. Everything is okay."  
"No, it is not!" Jing said. "I-I can't... So horrible..."

"Horrible... definitely." Scratch said and walked towards Jing. "But it's over."  
"Not in my mind... I feel like I was there..."  
"With due respect but I think if you had been there, you would've shot the father." Scratch laughed and patted her on the shoulder. "Anyway, that was my little story. It's your turn, if you like."

"I-I don't think I could have done it... Not after what happened with my mother... I-I fear guns too much..."  
"Yeah... your mother... I know you don't want to talk about it... and it's okay, but I have to ask, what happened?"  
"She took a bullet for me..."

"What happened?" Scratch probed and gave her a sympathetic look.  
"An assassin... That is what happened..."  
"It seems that our pasts aren't that different..." Grinned Scratch.  
"YOUR MOTHER DID NOT DIE IN YOUR ARMS WHEN YOU WERE JUST A KID!" Jing yelled.

Scratch was taken aback by the young woman's sudden outburst, he saw the pain reflecting in her eyes, a look that he knew too well to his liking. The bald dog simply sighed and responded calmly:  
"No... I was a bit older."  
"My mother gave her life so I could have a chance to become a good person... But I have failed her, I have dishonored my family and her memory..." Jing said while she started sobbing. "I became a thief..."

"Hey, don't cry..." Scratch meant. "You are a good person."  
"I am not! My mother would probably be disappointed by me, and so would be my ancestors!"  
"You are." Scratch repeated. "And I think the last thing your mother would be is disappointed of you. She loved you. And I believe that she just wanted, like every mother, that you are happy."

"I am a disgrace to my family..." Jing said, making deaf ears to Scratch's words.  
"No you are not... you..." An idea struck Scratch's mind. "Ms. King, why are you part of Sly's group?"  
"Because of three things: I owe them my life and freedom, they have helped me twice and they offered me a family, something which I lost long ago."

"So, let me summarize that. You have a second family that accepts you and you do that to settle a debt... to not disgrace your actual clan."  
"Yes."  
"So who exactly you are disappointing?" asked the dog grinning.

"I.. I do not know..." Sniffed Jing.  
"Me neither." he smiled. "And especially not your mother."  
"I do not think she would think that it is good that her daughter has become a thief and a pyromaniac like my father..."  
"But she would still love you. And never forget that... I mean, would you think my mother would've liked what I've become?"  
"No mother would..." Jing said. "But I think if she were alive, you would not be here, is not it?"

"The circumstances are a lot more complicated than this but... you could be right"  
"Could... Would it be alright if I... if I ask about that?"  
"I think it would be fair." Said Scratch with a loud sigh.

"What happened to her?"  
"She got shot by an assassin at a festival... together with a lot of other people." Scratch seemed ten years older while telling that.

"I am sorry... I did not know..."  
"You couldn't know... There was no way you could..."  
Jing gulped hard and wiped the remains of her tears, then she frowned a bit, having just made a very difficult decision.  
"... I think it is only fair... if I told you my story..."  
"If you don't want, you don't have to."

"It is something I have to do." Jing said. "I used to have a happy family, a big, strong and loving father, and a caring, amorous and kind mother. I remember that we were a very happy family, even if my father was a criminal. But all that change when I met her."

"Her?" Scratch probed.  
"Her name was Mei Ling Tsao, General Tsao's older sister. She had been hired by someone who she called Mr. Y, to kill me and my father."

"Why you? I mean your father as a target is understandable, but why you?"  
"I do not know, I just remember that she barged into my room and threw me against a corner, then she pulled out a gun but before she could shoot, my mother had entered into my room, the assassin ordered my mother to go and she would let her live but she tried to exchange her life for mine. Mei Ling told her that she was not her target but me." Jing said while tears started forming in her eyes. "Then when Tsao tried to kill me, she got in the way and took the bullet for me... After that my father was able to chase her away... But in the end she did kill someone... My mother died in my arms, I listened when her heart stopped beating."

Out of a reflex, Scratch stepped closer to Jing and gave her a hug. The odd thing was Jing didn't even struggle. She let it happen.  
"Just let it out, it's okay... it's okay."  
The young panda returned the hug and started crying in his shoulder.  
They stood there like that for a while. Jing hugging Scratch and Scratch hugging Jing.

Finally, after a few minutes, Jing stopped crying, then she let go of the hug and smiled at Scratch.  
"Thank you.." Jing said softly.

"No need to thank me." Scratch said with his usual ice melting smile. "And if I can ever help you finding this woman... or this Mr. Y. Just ask."  
"I cannot ask for your help, Scratch-sempai, Tsao is mine, I have to stop her on my own. It is a question of family honor. And Mr. Y, the only thing we know is that he once crossed paths with Cooper-sempai's father and Fox-san's father, he is a maniac that has caused too much suffering around the world."

In this second, it was like Scratch has seen a ghost. He almost paralyzed and looked at Jing with wide open eyes.  
"Ms. King... when was your mother killed?"  
"I was a kid, like four years old or five, I do not remember well thanks to the hit that Tsao gave me."

"So about 15 years ago?" Nervously Scratch started biting his lower lip.  
"Yes." Jing answered a bit bewildered by Scratch's actions and questions. "Why do you ask, Scratch-sempai?"  
"Just an idea that bothers me... nothing more... I have to check something. Oh... and..." Scratch pulled an old cellphone out of his pocket and handed it Jing. "If you ever need my help... and if it's even just to help you locate Tsao, don't hesitate to call."

"I will but why will you not help us stop Mr. Y?"  
"Cause he is mine... and I won't just stop him." Whispered Scratch.  
"Pardon?" Jing asked.

"Nothing... just... as I said I have to check some things. But I will tell you if I get some results."  
"Then it would be an honor to fight by your side, Scratch-sempai."  
"The honor would be mine." The bald head dog bowed in front of the young panda.  
Jing smiled kindly at Scratch, then she bowed back to him.  
"You may call me just Jing or Jing-chan if you like, Scratch-sempai." The young panda said.  
"I will, Jing." Scratch replied with a smile.  
A bit after that, Jing remembered that they hadn't finished with their task.

"I think we are not done yet." Jing said while she pointed without watching at Barns' torso.  
"Yeah, you're right. Come on, let's get this done."  
Scratch and Jing rolled up their sleeves and put the rest of the body into the acid, something that didn't really take them long, even if Jing had to stop several times because she was retching too much. As they were done Scratch wiped some sweat from his forehead.  
"Okay... done finally."

"I thought I would throw up a third time a couple times, but at least we are done."  
"I know... this smell is almost unbearable at first but you get used to it."  
"I do not see how."  
"Just believe me." Laughed Scratch. "And besides that you will like fresh air a lot more now."

"Yes please, or else I will not stand it anymore and will vomit."  
"Then let's go." meant Scratch. "The acid needs its time to do the work. I don't think that we have to be here all the time. After that we have to take care of the rests."

"Do not hesitate to ask for my assistance if you need it, Scratch-sempai."  
"I'll ask right now... because I already know I'll need it"  
"Then I will help you, though I still think that this is creepy, grim and disgusting."

"You have to remember one thing while working with dead bodies." Scratch pushed the door to the community room open to let some fresh air in.  
"It's just flesh. Treat it with respect, but not with fear." He meant a bit more quiet so the others wouldn't hear them.  
"I will, Scratch-sempai." Jing said while she bowed.

"Excellent." Scratch nodded approvingly towards her and then he walked towards the others on the table. "So... what you were doing in the meantime?"  
"We were looking for therapists for Jing, I just hope for your own good she isn't traumatized for life." Sly said.

"She's fine... and she learnt some new skills."  
"I'm gonna teach you new skills!" Murray yelled while he lunged at Scratch.  
"Oh... no..."Scratch backed quick away from the table so he could dodge Murray closely.

Murray threw several punches at Scratch, who could barely evade them. However, Murray had led him against a wall. The situation seemed hopelessly for the psychopathic mutt but when Murray was about to knock him out, Jing got in the way. Luckily, Murray was able to stop before he could even touch her.

"Close on... Thanks Jing" coughed Scratch  
"What are you doing?" Murray asked.  
"Stopping you" Jing said. "Trust me, we still need this psychopath monster, he is an idiot, but he is still useful."

"But I thought that you... That he traumatized you..." Murray explained.  
"No, he actually just showed me how much of a monster and a jerk he is."  
"Right!" Scratch confirmed who realized immediately what Jing was up to.

"Shut up, you idiot." Jing said to Scratch with a wink.  
"Hey stay cool." Scratch said with subdued voice.  
"Sorry, Scratch-sempai." She whispered back.  
"I'm glad that you want to help me to maintain my image but don't exaggerate it... They'll get suspicious if your attitude towards me changes completely. Just behave like before."

"Right, forgive me, Scratch-sempai." She nodded.  
"No problem..." Scratch cleared his throat and spoke louder again. "Well everyone... I have to call someone. Don't cry, I'll be back in ten minutes."

"Or you can just not come back, that is a good choice too." Sly said.  
"Ah Sly... what would I do without those comments..." Scratch laughed loudly.  
"True, what would we do without Sly's comments?" Bentley stated.  
"Probably die out of boredom."  
That sarcastic remark was the last part Scratch heard from Sly before he closed the door behind him tightly.

A bit privacy, exactly what he needed now for what he was up to. Mr. Y... could this man be the same? Could it be the same shadow that once laid onto his life? He needed to know that. Out of his coat pockets he pulled another old looking cellphone and dialed a number. Few moments later, someone answered his call.

"Nefarius? I need your help with something" He immediately spoke into the speaker as he didnt hear the dialing tone anymore. "Collect everything about an incident 15 years ago in China in which a family called King was involved... and then search for a connection between this incident and the names Sly Cooper and... something with Fox... I know that you have not much time but... you'll do it? Great! Call me as soon as you got something... Yes, this bastard... I hope so too, but you know he is  
somehow involved in everything… Thanks again, Nefarius."


	3. 10 years of abstinence

The night had lain onto the city like a soft blanket. The metropolis' fast heartbeat slowed down, almost stopped in this night. The silence rose around and in the hideout.  
Inside the Cooper gang's hideout, Scratch yawned tiredly. The jet-leg was still bothering him. But he had to stay awake to get rid of it.

But the thing kept getting harder due to the fact that he was sitting alone in the community room. Also the wine, he found somewhere and he was drinking wasn't helpful to keep him awake.  
Then Scratch heard the elevator doors opening, though he was still surprised that the gang had an elevator in the hideout. Anyway, once the doors opened, a tired-looking Penelope emerged from it and walked slowly to the kitchen.

"Ah, another night owl" he raised his glass to her.  
"Screw you." Penelope said nonchalantly while she entered into the kitchen.  
"Hm... strange." Giggled Scratch and took a sip from his wine.  
"Not really." Penelope said while she grabbed a glass.  
"Well, I think so. Really strange..."

"What's strange, anyway?" Penelope said while she walked out of the kitchen with her glass full of water.  
"Well, I visited the Netherlands one or two times but I never heard the people there saying 'Screw you' instead of 'Hello'."

"Guess what? I posed as a man twice, which means that I'm not a normal person, I tend to curse, and I don't give a damn what people says about me for that."  
"Just saying, not the usual greeting." Shrugged Scratch and emptied the wine glass. "So, what takes the sleep away from you?"

"The fact that I was in the lab isn't enough of a clue for you to know?" Penelope said while she drank her water.  
"Still working?"  
"Yes, some people use their free time to do something productive."

"Some of us just drink wine." Scratch laughed. "Ora et labora*... even though there is no ora for me. More enjoying my free time et labora."  
"Yeah, I don't see how you wouldn't." Penelope said while she drank the rest of her water.

"Hey... uhm... Penelope, right?"  
"Mrs. Wiseturtle, for you." She corrected him in an arrogant way.  
"I can't see any rings on those fingers."  
"Maybe because we all in this gang wear gloves." Penelope said while she took off a glove to show Scratch a golden ring.

"Hm... a bit to rash of me... haven't seen the gloves. Sorry. Anyway, Mrs. Wiseturtle, what you're working on?"  
"Top secret, nobody will know it until it's time, not even Sly knows what it is." Penelope replied.  
"Oh come on... you could give me at least a clue."

"Sorry, we're not that kind of scientists." Meant Penelope.  
"So what kind of scientist are you then?"  
"The one that makes weapons, but never sells it, Bentley designs non-lethal tech that helps us with our heists."

"You don't sell them?" Scratch asked surprised. "Pity... I thought about buying some of those darts."  
"Bentley isn't in this for the money, he does this because Sly and Murray are like his brothers, and I left it after I saw how my greed coasted me everything I had." Penelope said while she went back to the kitchen for another glass of water. "Besides, he'd rather sell his inventions to the cops rather than you."

"Oh everybody has a price... It's not always money..." Grinned Scratch and left the rest to Penelope's imagination.  
"Not this gang, pal."  
"Especially this gang, my dear. All of you stick together so much... it makes you attackable." Scratch meant and refilled his glass. "Just imagine I would like to harm the gang or threaten the gang"

"The others would harm you... And believe me, no one is who they seem when they're angry, not even Bentley or me."  
"Just imagine it... just imagine I'd be your enemy. After our little conversation here I'd knew that you and Bentley are married. So what would I do to, for example to make Bentley handing me some of his darts? Most obvious thing of course is kidnapping you."

"First you'd have to beat me, and even Murray has troubles doing so."  
"Yeah yeah... I know. Then I'd had the gang hunting me. But you wouldn't think what people I've already knocked out... Not always with fair means but sometimes the end justifies the means. And I would of course make sure that the gang wouldn't attack me... I have a preference for explosives and dead-man-switches."

"Pal, you're not the first one that tries that, Sly has gotten blown up and not even I know how he survived. Besides, Bentley has outsmarted guys that are much more smarter than you."  
"You wouldn't believe I have outsmarted also smarter guys than me." Laughed Scratch. "And also you wouldn't believe how stupid the smartest guys can be if you have the right cards... Anyway, what I was trying to say... or better about what I wanted to warn you, for all of your sakes, keep your relationships secret. The less people know that you are married to Bentley the less can use it against you"

"You really think I was born yesterday, don't you? Scratch, I'm a reformed villain, I know how that world works, the only people beside the gang that knows it are the priest that married us, Carmelita and you." She said in an incredibly arrogant tone.

"So you consider me as a person you can fully trust?" Retorted the dog and wiped away every bit of her arrogance.  
"Now I see that I committed a mistake..." She sighed, noticing how stupid she had been. "Darn! I should've finished the memory eraser by now!"  
"First think, then speak." Meant Scratch and started drinking his wine again. "But your secret is safe."

"It better be, I'm not as honorable as the rest of the gang."  
Scratch suddenly started to burst into laughter.  
"Not so honorable? You know who you are talking to?!"  
"Listen, I may not sell weapons, but you can be damn well sure I know how to use them."

"Welcome to the club" Scratch meant wiping some tears of laughter away.  
"Just go to hell." Penelope said while she went back to the elevator.  
"And you go to sleep! You need some."

"Lemme take care of myself, mom!" Penelope said while the elevator doors closed.  
"I would do that but teenage girls in your age are just too unreasonable to take care of yourself!" Scratch sneered after her.

"Whatever you say, mom!" Penelope shouted.  
"She is really quite entertaining..." Scratch murmured and took another from his glass.  
"Too bad you're not!" Penelope's voice said once more.

And then Scratch was alone. And still tired. He had to do something to keep himself awake as such, he got up from his chair and walked around the hideout. Pensively he let his eyes wander and out of coincidence they stopped at the door of Sly's room. What kind of things would a master thief hide in his room. Scratch couldn't fight his curiosity down, he had to find out.

Outside on a rooftop, the mentioned master thief was gazing over the many buildings of Paris, while he sighed loudly. He was thinking about the job mainly. Was the collaboration with Scratch really a good idea? Or was it a trade with the devil?

He didn't know what was wrong anymore, because letting someone like Scratch join his gang and not trying to stop this psychopath apparently had taken a big toll on his definition about right and wrong.  
But what should he do? This guy was exactly what you find in the dictionary when you look up for the meaning of psychopath. How should he change him?

How could he even change someone who already had a definition of the world? Sure he had changed Penelope twice, but she had had a crush on him and her love for Bentley certainly proved invaluable.

After a little run over the old rooftops of the city of love, he was there again. A little apartment on the top of the building. Through the wide skylight he entered the hideout  
But instead of the emptiness he expected in his room he found a bald dog sitting on his bed, reading a book while drinking wine.

"Interesting, really interesting." Mumbled Scratch while his eyes flew over the lines. "Your family history is quite impressive."  
"Let go of it!" Sly said while he snatched the book from Scratch's hands.  
"Hey, what's wrong?" Scratch seemed really unknowing what he held in his hands.

"This is my most valued possession, you are totally not authorized to even lay your eyes on the cover!"  
"I think this train already left the station. I'm already half way through."  
Sly gritted his teeth, and a cold sensation started to fill the room.  
"Okay okay..." Scratch rolled his eyes and stood up from the bed and left the room fast.

"Hey wait, from where do you got the wine you are you drinking?!"  
"Just got from somewhere around here…"  
"No you…" Sly grabbed the bottle. "You idiot!"

"What?"  
"You just drank my wine!"  
"Yeah, so what?"  
"That was the bottle I saved for proposing to Carmelita!" Sly roared.  
"Oh! Really?" Scratch sounded surprised. "Sorry for that…" The dog added honestly depressed before he then left the room.  
Sly tried to calm himself but he couldn't  
The raccoon growled in anger, startling his comrades

Outside the door Scratch sighed pensively while he sat down on his chair. "I should really find out who this Carmelita is he is always speaking about."

The others were all in their rooms. Just he was there again... and the bottle of wine… and his tiredness.  
"Hm... he won't use the used bottle anyway." He meant and filled the glass that still stood on the table

Sly went to his bed, he moved some boards of the floor and pulled out a safe. He opened it and put the Thievius Raccoonus carefully back into it. Closing the safe Sly wondered how got Scratch the book in his hands. Did Sly forget to close the safe properly?

Hard questions for a tired mind. He didn't want to think about it right now, so he huffed and jumped in his bed, then he started glancing at the roof, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world and let his mind drift away.

He didn't even know why but he thought of Clockwerk, his father's murder, the Fiendish Five... all the bad stuff that had happened to him came to his mind.  
But not just the shadows of the past, also all the good times of his life entered his mind. For example the time when his team consisted of three kids and their only goal was to steal cookies from the evil Ms. Puffin.

Finally, his mind reached the most recent events, focusing especially on someone, the psychopath on the other side of the hideout. What could've been so bad in Scratch's life that he had to make others suffer to feel better with himself? What could've happened to Scratch to make him who he was?

It must have been something tremendous... At least Sly hoped that. The other logical step would be then that he just does that because he thinks it's fun to make others suffer.  
Restlessly, Sly tossed and turned in his bed but he couldn't find the peace to sleep.

He knew that he had to sleep, because he knew that he was kind of useless when he didn't sleep too well.  
So he moved to his nightstand, somewhere in there were some sleeping pills. A special medicament... Herbal only, of course, that sends him in less than a few minutes into the land of dreams. He opened one of the drawers and took a jar out.

And right beside it, he found a small sachet with a white powder in it  
Sly sat on his bed and put the jar of pills aside his pillow, then he eyed the content of the sachet  
He knew what it was, it'd be impossible for him not to know it. It was cocaine.

His heartbeats quickened, what was that sachet doing there?  
He knew that Scratch couldn't have left it, otherwise it'd have a mocking note. The only logical answer was that he had obtained it in during one of his relapses of his dark days of addiction, and since he had been able to restrain himself from taking it, the powder stood there, waiting for a moment of weakness and haunting him like a ghost of a part of his life that he thought that he had left behind long ago.

The old craving drove the sweat on his forehead.  
Should he really?  
But he had been clean for so long.

Sly gulped, he didn't want to, but his body begged for it.  
Slowly he grabbed it and opened the sachet, his sweaty hands trembled has he poured the white powder on his bedside table.

The rising anticipation accelerated all his moves  
Hectically he started searching for a credit card with that he could form the pile of white powder into a straight line

Sly finally found something in his pocket, it was a presentation card, it was somewhat crumpled but he knew it was still useful.  
He could hear his heartbeat loud and clear as the line lay finally in front of him  
He was about to suck up the powder with his nose as a voice behind him startled him  
"Do you really think that's a good idea?"

Sly startled and turned, he almost had a heart attack  
Leaned against the doorframe there stood this always grinning psychopath. But his face had not even a little trace of a smile in it  
Sly glared at the newcomer.  
"As if you cared about it anyways."

Sly turned his attention back to the powder, which was calling for him harder and harder  
"Put this stuff away." Scratch said slowly but strictly.  
"You're not my boss."  
"If you behave like a complete moron, I am your boss." Scratch growled. "And now put that stuff away"

"Oh really? I am a complete moron? What does that makes you then if you sell this stuff?"  
"I don't force the people to take that. It's their own decision. They are adults. But you're not behaving like an adult right now. "  
"I'm not an adult? Why?"

"Because you behave like a stupid child the whole day. Goddammit, snap out of it! Or..."  
"Or what, Scratch?" Sly said threateningly. "Also I might add, acting like a complete psychopath isn't acting like an adult, either."

Suddenly this disgusting grin was back on Scratch's face.  
"Or I'm going to raise my voice a bit... that will wake up the others, won't it?"  
"So? Who did you think that took me into rehab? My dead father?"

"So, it totally doesn't matter for you if your friends come out of their rooms and see you with a white mustache?" Scratch meant raising is eyebrow.  
"I won't let them see me, then."

Scratch reached with his fingers in a pocket in his coat.  
"You know the good thing these days is..." He pulled out an old cellphone with a big camera lens. "Everybody has his camera with them"  
"Damn it! Why you care so much if I get high or not?!"  
"Because I prefer working with a mind that's clear." Explained Scratch "Now put that stuff away"

"Do I look like I'm gonna buy that crap? The real reason, or else you know what happens next."  
"You actually not in the position to demand anything" The bold dog stated. "…but okay. The reason is just that I don't want you to take it… that´s all"  
Sly got confused, a drug dealer didn't want him to take drugs?  
"Why not? I thought that drug dealers didn't give a damn if this stuff was dangerous."

"Well, I'm not any drug dealer." Meant Scratch smiling. "Also I'm also the leader of a team. And I know what happens if you don't have a clear mind."  
"Really?" Sly replied in disbelieve.  
"If you are drugged and try to lead this group on this job you leading them directly to their death." Explained Scratch.

Sly tried to say something but the words got stuck in his throat, he couldn't contradict such a point.  
"Now please... I beg you, for the sake of your team, put this stuff away"  
Sly looked at the powder, he could still feel that his body begged him to take it, but he knew that Scratch was right, he definitely needed a clear mind.

The raccoon grabbed a small trashcan and dropped the cocaine in it, much to Scratch's relief.  
"Thank you." Scratch voice sounded honestly and friendly, what was a bit strange for Sly.  
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but no, thank you, I almost broke my 10 years of being clean but you stopped me."

"Ten years, nice work." Scratch rummaged again in his pocket and pulled out a little golden coin. "Two years." Laughed Scratch and showed him the coin. "That thing reminds me."  
"Great, could you leave me alone, I can't sleep and I need to take this pills." Sly showed him the jar, just to ensure him that they weren't drugs... at all.

"As you wish. But..." Scratch walked to the trash bin with the rests of the cocaine and picked it up. "I'm taking this one with me... just in case"  
"Be my guest." Sly said while he gestured at Scratch to take the trashcan with him.  
"Oh and one last piece of advice." Meant Scratch with his back turned to Sly. "Try warm milk instead of pills... sometimes traditional remedies do miracles"

"Tried it, it doesn't work since I turned 18."  
"Or try sex... that always works" Scratch laughed and left the room  
Sly blushed and yelled:  
"Curse you, Scratch!"

The answer Sly received was Scratch's dirty laughter that slowly faded  
Sly slammed his door and mumbled some curses under his breath, some of them in French, others in English, even some in Spanish that he had learned from Carmelita.  
Carmelita... Just the mention of her name was enough to make many memories about the adventures that he had shared with the vixen rush into Sly's mind.  
The raccoon thought about her smile, her law-abiding sense of humor, her fierceness, her boldness, and above all, her beautiful and charming voice.  
Sly couldn't help but smile, finally having found some peace in his mind. The raccoon put the pills back into his nightstand's drawer, he closed it and laid in his bed with the smile still plastered in his face.  
And suddenly his problems to fall asleep were gone.


End file.
